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The story follows Magnus Gallant, a recent graduate of the Ischka Military Academy, and fledgling captain in Palatinus' Southern region, Alba. As civil war erupts in the country, Magnus eventually decides to join the revolution with its leader, Frederick Raskin, first liberating the southern region with the Zenobians' aid, then Nirdam and uniting with them, then returning the Eastern Region of Capitrium to the Orthodox church, and finally marching on the capital of Latium. However, along the way, Magnus' battalion, the Blue Knights, finds its enemies escalating, from the puppet kingdom of Palatinus, to the might of the Holy Lodis Empire, to the Dark Hordes of the Netherworld.

There are six possible Endings, some where Magnus gets expelled from the revolutionary army, because they consider him a "monster" who settles everything by force, realizing his actions are naught he disappears and people forget about the great general who once saved them, thus ensuring Palatinus' destruction. In another he is named "General Magnus Gallant, the guardian of Palatinus." And the last, where Frederick dies in the war against the tribes Of the East of Gallea and Zeteginia, who wanted to invade Palatinus right after Lodis weakened it, he is named: "Magnus Gallant, The Paladian King." His rule forever to be remembered and his son Aeneas Gallant takes the Throne, following his father's footsteps.

Ogre Battle is real-timestrategy role-playing game. Magnus, the protagonist, commands a battalion of up to 50 troops. Members of the battalion are sectioned off into units, by the player. Each unit must consist of a leader. Any character can be dubbed leader, minus most non-human entities, soldiers and basic classes like the Fighter, Amazon or Ninja. Gorgons and Saturos are the main exceptions to this rule. Each unit, including the leader, has a maximum of five members. Units are used to battle enemy units, which follow the same structural formation.[1][2]

The game is divided into several chapters, each chapter serving as a mission with specific objectives outlined by the battalion's adviser, Hugo. Although suggestions for how the battalions units may be mobilized are given, it is not required to follow Hugo's advice so long as the main objective is completed. Most objectives require capturing an enemy stronghold with any unit or defeating a particularly strong unit.[1]

A battle taking place in the training room depicts a Princess and Lich combining their magical attacks to perform one, stronger attack.

"When two units meet, a skirmish ensues, and the game switches to an isometric view of the pre-rendered battlefield. Characters make their attacks in semi-real time, meaning multiple characters act at once, which is a bit more exciting than turn-based battles." Gamespot said of the battle system, noting the how the vast array of attacks, critical hits, and parries colors the combat situations. The unit is disbanded once each member dies. If at any point Magnus Gallant dies, a game over screen is shown and the game cycles back to the main menu.[1]

One of the trademarks of the series is the class system. Each character belongs to a certain class, and the vast majority can be changed into different classes. The classes determine the type of attacks the character can use in battle, what equipment it can carry, as well as effects on the unit's statistics. Many classes are most efficient in certain positions of a unit. All classes are divided into 3 major groups: male, female, and non-human.

The game was generally well received by critics. It received a 9.1 from GameSpot, an 8.8 from IGN and several reviews in that range from other sources, and was rated the 111th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.[3] Reviewing the Virtual Console re-release, IGN gave the game a 9.0, stating that it "was (and still is) lordly indeed." [4]